Post
by salas » Thu Jan 26, 2012 11:07 am
And my general thoughts on the deal: (may the Tigers gods forgive me in advance for saying this)
It's so good, it's bad. Yup. I said it. Speed, pitching, and defense win championships. Tigers' pitchers: well, if Scherzer has a season like 2 years ago, Porcello has a season like 3 years ago (when he was freakin' 20), and Verlander is Verlander...there's still no #4 or #5. And as for the pen...Zumaya coming back could have been big, but you mean to tell me you are going to pay all that money for Fielder and not pony up a minimum major league contract for a guy who, when he's been healthy, has been pretty darn good? The pitching overall is a bit of a question mark, but not nearly as much so as defense now is.
If Fielder DHs exclusively, this is a great move. Cabrera has been handling first much better the last few seasons, and with Fielder DHing, I don't care if Brandon Inge puts up Mark Salas numbers over at third - I put him in there regularly and have him hit .200 with 15 HR and get a glove on just about anything hit within 30 feet of the bag. Now you're going to put Cabrera back there, the same Cabrera who made 5 errors in about 25-30 games there in '08 before Leyland said this is clearly not gonna work? Sure, Bingey may give the club a defensive boost in left, but Juan Pierre would have given them an all-around boost defensively, offensively and on the basepaths, which is where they need the most help. If Prince outswipes Big Daddy over the next 7 seasons...well, let's just say he can't run real fast.
So we have Austin Jackson providing a little speed in the leadoff spot when he's not busy striking out 345 times, and then flatfoot, flatfoot, flatfoot, flatfoot. When Inge is about the 2nd fastest guy on the club, you're in trouble. (Ok, I think Raburn and Kelly swiped a few bases, too.) When Inge is the best fielder on your club, you're in trouble. (Ok, Jackson has great range in CF, but he can't play 3B in a pinch.) Defensively, we have Inge somewhere, presumably, Jackson, I'll add Avila in there behind the plate, and then we have a combination of average (I'm looking at you, Jhonny Peralta), average (you, Brennan Boesch), average (you, second baseman, whoever you end up being, since this was another position we couldn't upgrade), and below-average (Cabrera at third and Fielder at 1B).
Best case scenario: This isn't a repeat of 2008, and I don't think it will be completely anyway, because you have a much younger team than in those days...I think they'll be tough all season long, and with a little luck make their way past either Anaheim or Texas (does anyone really care about the AL East anymore???), then their lack of ability to manufacture runs will kill them against a Philly-type team in the Series. Yes, I said "lack of ability to manufacture runs", because while Fielder and Cabrera will mash a few, Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay will pretty much mow everyone else down with ease. I shudder to think of Austin Jackson coming up against Doc in a late-inning, bases-loaded situation with 2 out...toast...lightly crisped, because that's how Doc rolls.
Worst Case: As someone noted above, if Fielder did just care about loading up (though I don't think that will completely happen, either)...well, he should still be somewhere between V-Mart and the 2008 versions of Sheffield and Renteria, and with any luck the rest of the Central will be bad enough for Detroit to take it (oh, and thanks, Fausto Whoeveryoureallyare, for making the Tribe have to rely on Kevin Slowey now...). But what happens when V-Mart comes back next season? Then it's more than just Inge without a home for the 3rd time in his Tigs career...and what if Cabrera has a miserable year at third and/or gets jealous of the club shelling out such big bucks for so many years to a guy who's not Miguel Cabrera??
Ok, enough of my ranting about hypotheticals. Here's hoping Prince bombs 55 and makes Motown say "Big Who?", here's hoping Miggy hits .360 and makes longtime Tigs fans say "Wait, didn't Maggs do that 5 years ago? Oh wait, he didn't hit 40 homers, too", and here's hoping Jacob Turner wins 15 games as 2012 AL ROY and makes Tiger Nation say "Whew, glad we didn't trade him for freakin' Gio "Walk Some Games Away" Gonzalez." GO TIGERS IN 2012!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
